About

The Last Garden - Robotanists in the Post-Apocalypse.

$28,095

pledged of $9,800 goal

759

backers

The world as we know it has ended. One woman is all that remains of the human race, and she is known only by her title: The Queen. As her final decree, The Queen aims to recreate the beautiful and lush gardens of her youth. However, there is very little moisture left, so The Queen will implement a new plan - with some unlikely help.

In her travels, The Queen has accumulated a collection of out-of-commission robots. She has reprogrammed them all into Robotanists and will use these Robotanists to turn metal and rare gems into a beautiful artificial garden. The Last Garden.

The Last Garden is a highly competitive worker placement and betting game for 2-4 players. Each player controls a number of Robotanists as they seek to create a beautiful garden out of scraps and gems, doing everything in their power to become the Queen's favorites.

We've been working on The Last Garden for nearly two years, and now, with beautiful illustration by Beth Sobel & graphic design by Justin Treadway, we're thrilled to present a vision that has been fully playtested and as beautiful as we imagined. We just need your help to make it a reality!

In The Last Garden, you will control a group of Robotanists doing everything in your power to win the favor of the Queen. Each turn, you will first play a card from your hand which manipulates the Garden. Some cards allow you to place gems into the Garden, some allow you to move gems, and some allow you to change the structure of the Garden.

Program Card Anatomy

When playing a card, you may normally only affect sectors of the Garden that match the number in the top left portion of the card that you are playing. However, if the Garden sectors have shifted and the card being played doesn't match any of the die in the Garden, that card becomes wild and can instead affect any sector. Because of this, the cards in the your hands will generally become more versatile as the game goes on.

Once you've played a card from your hand, you may then deploy one of your Robotanists onto the board. Robotanists are deployed into the following areas:

THE GARDEN

Robotanists deployed directly into the Garden will gain favor based on the number of gems in their sector. (Prototype components shown)

THE WORKSHOP

Robotanists deployed into the workshop will gain favor based on how many gems are in the sectors they are helping to assemble. (Prototype components shown)

THE MINES

Robotanists deployed into the mines will gain favor based on how prevalent the color of gem they are retrieving is within the garden. (Prototype components shown)

THE LAB

In addition to the areas which gain favor, Robotanists may also be sent to the Laboratory in order to gain one-time program boosts. These boosts allow you to augment cards you play in the future for even more powerful effects! (Prototype components shown)

At the end of of each round, you will gain favor and your Robotanists will return home. The Garden does not reset overnight, so each round will be different from the last! The game is played over a set number of rounds depending on the player count, and the group of Robotanists that have gained the most favor at the end of all of the rounds will become the Queen's favorites, winning the game!

It seems you can't throw a gem these days without hitting a Kickstarter game project with a million stretch goals. For The Last Garden, our stretch goals are modest. We're proud of The Last Garden, and it's the game we want to make, but with your support we will be able to upgrade the components in the game and perhaps even release some small promos that we think will truly inspire imagination. While we've planned our stretch goals, we'll be unveiling more information about them as the campaign goes on.

Stretch Goal #1 - UNLOCKED - Improved Card Stock! At this level we'll be able to upgrade the cards in the game from 300gsm Grey Core to a Premium 310gsm Black Core Card Stock with Linen finish. Makes for snappier gardening!

Stretch Goal #2 - UNLOCKED - Custom Plastic Insert - At this level we'll be able to include a custom molded insert with the game to keep the wastelands of the inside of the box as beautiful as the garden itself!

Stretch Goal #4 - UNLOCKED - Dice and Punchboard Upgrade - Stretch goal four will be for 2 different component upgrades! First, we'll be increasing the thickness of our punchboard tokens and chits from 2mm to a beefier 3mm! Then, by request from backers during this campaign, we're also adding in custom colored dice. See update #4 for more information.

Stretch Goal #7 - UNLOCKED - Multicard Hack Pack - This goal gives all backers access to a new promotional card for the game. This Multicard can be used as either a card in the program deck or as another area that workers can be placed in! You can see a mock-up of this Multicard in Update #8

Stretch Goal #9 - UNLOCKED - Multicard Hack Pack 2 - This goal gives all backers access to a new promotional card for the game. This Multicard can be used as either a card in the program deck or as another area that workers can be placed in! You can see a mock-up of this Multicard in Update #11

Stretch Goal #10 - UNLOCKED - Multicard Hack Pack 3 - This goal gives all backers access to a new promotional card for the game. This Multicard can be used as either a card in the program deck or as another area that workers can be placed in! You can see a mock-up of this Multicard in Update #12

Stretch Goal #11 - UNLOCKED - Player Tiles - This goal will allow us to include chipboard tiles which will act as player markers, and give players a place to keep their Robotanists when they aren't deployed during the game!

The Last Garden is a labor of love, and would absolutely not be possible without your support. In many ways, this campaign is a throwback to the early days of Kickstarter - it's a unique and quirky game that only has a chance to be made with the help of some unique and quirky folks. Perhaps folks like yourself.

Earlier on in this game's development we had an opportunity to sell The Last Garden to a publisher, under the condition that we made the theme more traditional. How could we blame them? Robotanists gardening in the post-apocalypse to please the last human on the planet isn't exactly an easy sell. We know it's weird, but we also know that Kickstarter is a place that was made for ideas like this. Ideas from passionate creators who dream of bringing their unlikely inventions to life.

We're using Kickstarter because we need your help in realizing this dream.

We are coordinating fulfillment with several very reputable fulfillment companies worldwide to ensure that The Last Garden will be delivered to you safe, in a timely manner, and with no hidden customs fees. We are proud to be partnered with the following companies in order to achieve this:

Card Kingdom - The United States

Starlit Citadel - Canada

Gamesquest - The United Kingdom & EU

Unicorn Games - Australia

VFI - China

At this time, The Last Garden is not slated for distribution through the standard hobby distribution chains. However, One Thousand XP is incredibly passionate about supporting Friendly Local Game Stores. Rather than burden small business with a retail-specific tier, we would love the opportunity to work with you and allow your store to pre-order The Last Garden directly from us. Any bulk retail orders for The Last Garden will be billed upon shipment, and come with the following benefits:

Advance Shipment - Retailers that pre-order during the Kickstarter period will have their shipments sent immediately following Kickstarter backer fulfillment free of charge.

Access to Promos - Retailers that pre-order during the Kickstarter period will receive any and all promos unlocked during this campaign.

Listing on OneThousandXP.com - Retailers that pre-order during the Kickstarter period will have their stores listed in a retailer directory on our website.

If you're an owner of a retail store and would like more information on our retailer options, please contact us here, or send an email to contact@onethousandxp.com

Co-founded by Chris Rowlands and Matt Christianson, One Thousand XP is committed to creating games and content that inspire imagination and encourage creativity. As longtime friends and patrons of the gaming community, we want to give creative insights through blogs, videos, podcasts, and games that will embolden new or experienced game designers. We also want to form communities that are welcoming and inclusive regardless of backgrounds or experience levels. Through our own designs, we are committed to creating games with themes that not only inspire but create gateways into vast worlds waiting to be explored.

Risks and challenges

While we have successfully delivered one microgame via Kickstarter, The Last Garden is a much larger project with years of design and development behind it. There is always the risk of delays in manufacturing and fulfillment of board game projects via Kickstarter, and while we believe we have planned for a variety of possible issues, the fact remains that The Last Garden is our first major foray into board game publishing. There may be some growing pains.

That said, for the past four years we have meticulously researched the ins and outs of the Kickstarter platform, consuming as much information as we could. We believe that this research, coupled with the mentorship of professionals we have met through our work within the tabletop gaming industry has instilled in us the knowledge and confidence to deliver this product to you as promised.

We know that you are trusting us to behave transparently and with professionalism. We do not take your support for granted, and are extremely grateful for your help in turning our dream into reality.